SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES EXMOUTH MARKET The main reason to come to Exmouth Contrary to its name, Exmouth Market is Market is to hang out in its eateries and not a market with street stalls and hoarse watering holes. hawkers but a pedestrianised passage, packed with fashionable bars, restaurants, Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer coffee-houses, patisseries and delicatessens. Consecrated in 1888, this stately Catholic Half a mile south of Islington, it could church (%7837 1861; www.holyredeemer.co.uk; hsee easily live in its trendy neighbour’s shadow website for times of services), reminiscent of an but it doesn’t; Exmouth Market is not so Italian basilica, dominates the western end much ‘up-and-coming’ as ‘arrived’. It has of Exmouth Market. In 1906 a campanile its own website (www.exmouth- (bell tower) was added and its bells are market.com), its own theatre company and regularly heard echoing through the local is popular with a youthful ‘in’ crowd, streets. The architect was John Dando looking for great places to wine, dine and Sedding and the church is noteworthy shop. because he modelled the interior on Brunelleschi’s famous Santo Spirito church ORIENTATION in Florence. If you want to take a peek, Northeast of central London, Exmouth there are services daily. Market is almost half way between Kings Cross railway station and the river Thames. Gallery at the Eagle It runs parallel to Rosebery Avenue at the On Farringdon Road, close to the Eagle junction with Farringdon Road – one of pub, is an intimate gallery space (%7833 2674; London’s key north–south arteries. www.emmahilleagle.com; 159 Farringdon Rd; h11am- Surrounded by an excellent network of 6pm Wed-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) with a changing transport options (if you can use that programme of art exhibitions. The gallery adjective to describe anything pertaining to is a showcase for contemporary British transport in London) Exmouth Market is artists such as Basil Beattie, Prunella easy to get to, whether you come by train, Clough, Stephen Cox as well as newer, less taxi, underground or bus. well-known artists. There are group shows and solo exhibitions which rotate weekly so INFORMATION there’s always something new to see. Bookshops Metropolitan Books (%7278 6900; 49 Exmouth FESTIVALS & EVENTS Market) Local, independent bookshop with good range of In mid-July, there’s the Exmouth Market publications about the neighbourhood. Summer Festival. A highlight of this is often the French farmers’ market. A new three- Internet Access week writing festival is planned for April 2006 and will take place at the Clerkenwell Arlington Internet (%7837 7846; 19-20 Arlington Way; £1 for 30 mins; h9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-8pm Theatre. Sat) This is hidden behind Sadler’s Wells theatre. SLEEPING Laundry There is nowhere to stay in Exmouth Dolphin Cleaners (%7278 6521; 35 Exmouth Market; Market but plenty of choice if you walk h8am-6.30pm Mon-Sun) A combined laundrette and dry north towards Islington or Kings Cross. cleaners. Beware, however, if you purchase a cat in Exmouth Market, don’t expect any room to Money swing it in your hotel or B&B. The big high street banks are in Islington (Upper Street) but there’s an ATM at the Mount Pleasant Post Office (cnr EATING Rosebery Ave & Farringdon Rd). Medcalf Bar (%7833 3533; 40 Exmouth Market; mains £8.50-13.50; hkitchen noon-3pm & 6-10pm Mon-Thu, Post noon-3pm Fri, noon-4pm & 6-10pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun) Post Office (%0845 7223344; cnr Rosebery Ave & Like many of the eating and drinking Farringdon Rd; h8.30am-5.30pm Mon, 9am-5.30pm Tue- establishments in Exmouth Market, this Fri, 9am-12.30pm Sat) restaurant cum bar is a beautifully 1 converted butchers shop. Its relaxed, rustic for refreshment, try their hearty and very atmosphere becomes more frenetic at meal reasonably-priced organic Spanish food. times, as its relatively adventurous, good- value food makes it a deservedly popular ENTERTAINMENT place to eat. Their ever-changing menu The Clerkenwell Theatre (%7272 4888; might serve smoked salmon and anchovy [email protected], 26 Exmouth Market; terrine one day or beetroot and walnut hevenings Thu-Sun) This is one of London’s salad the next. newest fringe venues, funded by donations Pie & Eel Shop (%7837 1974; 46 Exmouth Market; from local traders and friends of the mains £2.60-3.25; h10.30am-3.45pm Mon-Thu, theatre. The Big Wheel Theatre Company 10.30am-5 pm Fri-Sat) Pop in here for a piece of and the Clerkenwell Theatre Company are history. This place has been run by the based at the venue and regularly put on same lady for the last 40 years and sells new plays or Shakespearean classics. only pie and mash or eels and mash. There’s also a writers’ group called Spotlessly clean with white tiling Clerkenwell Writers that meets in the throughout, it is like eating in your theatre every Tuesday. bathroom. The menu might not be to Sadler’s Wells (%7863 8000; www.sadlers- everyone’s taste, your scooped mounds of wells.com; Rosebery Ave; admission £10-14) This mash could remind you of school dinners theatre is all about dance, whether it be the but this is a slippery, East End experience all-male Swan Lake, staged by Matthew not to be missed. Bourne to international acclaim, or its regular Flamenco Festival (February). DRINKING There has been a theatre on this site since Café Kick (%7837 8077; 43 Exmouth Market; mains £5- 1683 but its 1998 make-over really put it on 6.50; hnoon-11pm Mon-Thu, noon-midnight Fri & Sat) the map internationally. At this taverna-style bar it’s not only the beer and cocktails that give you a kick, but GETTING THERE & AWAY the entertainment too: three football tables The nearest mainline stations are Kings jostle with the punters for floor space and Cross and St Pancras; both are a 10-minute there’s another one bolted to the wall. walk from Exmouth Market. Nearby Every day between 4pm and 7pm home underground stations include Angel, and away goals can be celebrated during Chancery Lane and Farringdon. However, Happy Hour where cocktails are reduced bus No 63 plies up and down the from £6 to £4 and the beer from £2.65 to Farringdon Rd and bus Nos 341, 38 and 19 £1.70. This is a good fun place with a deliver you almost to the door. continental feel and loud Latin-American style music that attracts a young, party crowd. If you’re sitting in reserve with time JOSEPH GRIMALDI (1778–1837) High up on the stone façade of 56 Exmouth Market (next to the tattoo shop) is a blue plaque. This is where Joseph Grimaldi, one of Britain’s most historically important clowns, lived from 1818 to 1828. Although he sounds Italian, Grimaldi was born and bred in London, regularly appearing in harlequinades and pantomimes at Sadler’s Wells and Covent Garden. As a clown, Grimaldi was famous for his make-up; he always appeared with a large red triangle painted on each cheek. So popular was his character, that all clowns eventually adopted the red cheeks – a tradition continued to this day. Grimaldi’s popularity also sounded the death knell for Harlequin. As you’d imagine, the central character in 19th century Harlequinades was the Harlequin. However, due to Grimaldi’s clowning success, the clown became the main character. And, as if this wasn’t enough, he also invented the tradition of audiences singing in pantomime. ‘On No He Didn’t – Oh, Yes, He Did’. 2.